Dirk Gently In TV Pilot For BBC4

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Although the channel’s press release doesn’t reveal much in the way of info (like actors, f’rinstance) it does name Misfits creator Howard Overman as the man doing the adaptation duties.

Gently was the star of Adams’ novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency , originally published in 1987. His powers of detection were based on the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things.” He is lazy, untidy, dismissive, an awful boss and his methods verge on the criminal.

The book has already been adapted as a Radio Four drama series, adapted by Dirk Maggs and broadcast in 2007. That version starred Harry Enfield as the eponymous detective, in a bizarre piece of casting that actually worked really well. He’s almost certainly not the TV Dirk, though.

The announcement came as part of the press release for BBC4’s autumn/winter 2010/2011 line-up, but as yet there is no definite broadcast date. Director is Damon Thomas who also made First Men In The Moon for BBC4. The pilot will be 60 minutes long, and the project was originally being developed for BBC3, but quite why there’s been a shift of channels isn’t clear. Better editorial fit, presumably (ie, there aren’t enough pregnant teenagers in Dirk Gently )?